I cannot remember a season surrounded by so much hype from the Miami Dolphins fan base and that hype comes with good reason. Miami made the biggest splash of the offseason when they lured big-ticket free agent Ndamukong Suh to South beach. Let’s leave the salary cap to the experts; bottom line is that the Dolphins added a top five defensive player to a defense that was already good. Suh is dominant, he is a leader, and when you pair him on a defensive line with the likes of Cameron Wake, Olivier Vernon, Derrick Shelby, Terrence Fede, Earl Mitchell, CJ Mosley, and Jordan Phillips, you really have something that could be special. As great as the addition of Suh is and was, I do not believe that his addition is the main reason the fan base in Miami is excited. That reason is Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill has made leaps and bounds in terms of his improvement from 2014 to 2015. Tannehill looks like he is poised to make a major jump in 2015 and if he does then you could see the Miami Dolphins end their playoff draught. It does help that Tannehill has a revamped assortment of receiving threats at his disposal and that collection of Jarvis Landry, Greg Jennings, Rishard Matthews, Kenny Stills, Dion Sims, Jordan Cameron, and first-round selection DeVante Parker is light years better than what he had to work with in 2014. Before I jump into what I think the Dolphins record will be in 2015, I wanted to take a crack at the 53 man roster. This won’t be accurate as like every season the Dolphins will work the waiver after final cuts are made and improve their roster but given what they have under contract right now, this is how I see it playing out. 1.Ryan Tannehill-QB 2.Matt Moore-QB 3.Lamar Miller-RB 4.Jay Ajayi-RB 5.Damien Williams-RB 6.LaMichael James-RB 7.Jordan Cameron-TE 8.Dion Sims-TE 9.Jake Stoneburner-TE 10.Jarvis Landry-WR 11.Kenny Stills-WR 12.Greg Jennings-WR 13.DeVante Parker-WR 14.Rishard Matthews-WR 15.Matt Hazel-WR 16.Branden Albert-OL 17.JaWuan James-OL 18.Jeff Linkenbach-OL 19.Jason Fox-OL 20.Mike Pouncey-OL 21.Sam Brenner-OL 22.Dallas Thomas-OL 23.Billy Turner-OL 24.Jamil Douglas-OL 25.Cameron Wake-DL 26.Terrence Fede-DL 27.Olivier Vernon-DL 28.Ndamukong Suh-DL 29.Jordan Phillips-DL 30.C.J. Mosley-DL 31.Earl Mitchell-DL 32.Derrick Shelby-DL 33.Anthony Johnson-DL 34.Chris McCain-LB 35.Kelvin Sheppard-LB 36.Koa Misi-LB 37.Jelani Jenkins-LB 38.Spencer Paysinger-LB 39.Zach Vigil-LB 40.Jordan Tripp-LB 41.Reshad Jones-DB 42.Michael Thomas-DB 43.Walt Aikens-DB 44.Jordan Kovacs-DB 45.Brent Grimes-DB 46.Brice McCain-DB 47.Bobby McCain-DB 48.Jamar Taylor-CB 49.Zach Bowman-DB 50.Don Jones-DB 51.Caleb Sturgis-K 52.Matt Darr-P 53.John Denney-LS There shouldn’t be many surprises there except for rookie punter, Matt Darr, to beat out veteran Brandon Fields. Cutting Fields in favor of Darr would save the Miami Dolphins $1.7 in cap relief for 2015 and $3.55 million in 2016. The Dolphins are currently sitting in the ballpark of $12 million under the salary cap which they will wisely move over to their 2016 salary cap to fit the large contracts of Suh and Tannehill.

So when all the smoke is cleared I have the Miami Dolphins as 11-5 and the winners of the AFC East. How did I get to that? First, I absolutely love their schedule as in eight of their sixteen games they will see the likes of Kirk Cousins, Blake Bortles, Tyrod Taylor, Marcus Mariota, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and possibly Geno Smith. Here is how I see the Dolphins season going… Week 1: @ Washington Redskins (Win) Week 2: @ Jacksonville Jaguars (Win) Week 3: vs. Buffalo Bills (Win) Week 4: vs. New York Jets (Win) Week 5: Bye Week 6: @ Tennessee Titans (Win) Week 7: vs. Houston Texans (Win) Week 8: @ New England Patriots (Loss) Week 9: @ Buffalo Bills (Loss) Week 10: @ Philadelphia Eagles (Loss) Week 11: vs. Dallas Cowboys (Win) Week 12: @ New York Jets (Loss) Week 13: vs. Baltimore Ravens (Win) Week 14: vs. New York Giants (Win) Week 15: @ San Diego Chargers (Win) Week 16: vs. Indianapolis Colts (Loss) Week 17: vs. New England Patriots (Win)Final Record: 11-5The good news is that I see the Miami Dolphins ending their playoff draught but the bad news is the other teams I see getting in are the Steelers, Ravens, Colts, Broncos, and Patriots. In that case the Dolphins would have the worst quarterback in the AFC playoff picture and in a quarterback driven league that could halt their success.

With that said, I am surely not counting this team out as if they place their best they can beat any team in this league. One things for certain, if and when the Miami Dolphins get into the dance, they will be a very tough out. This column was written by Neal Driscoll. Follow him on Twitter: @NealDriscoll